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April 28, 2010

Take two.....LOL, that's how many cards I made to get the finished product for this sketch challenge. For starters I am a bit of a perfectionist. If I was just making the cards and throwing them away then maybe it wouldn't be a big deal but I give them away to family and friends and I am also trying to sell some of them. Second I am a beginner at sewing and you will soon see that I did some stitching around the edges. First shot, yeah it wasn't so straight. LOL!

One thing you will soon figure out, if you haven't already is that most of my posts are going to be a challenge of some sort. It helps keep the juices, in my brain, flowing and it also keeps me posting. Gives me some deadlines and such. I have 4 kids that keep me pretty busy and I try to craft but without "a challenge" I sometimes will get off track. So without further blabbing here is the sketch:

This is from The Sweet Stop, Sketch Challenge 53. In my favorites I have a folder with all the "challenge blogs". Sometimes several blogs have challenges on the same day so I usually pick one and try to participate. As much as I would love to make several cards and participate in several sketch challenges, it just isn't possible.So here is my card:

Oh how I love the Basic Grey's Kioshi Collection. All the pattern papers are from Basic Grey. The card base is Kraft from SU and measures 5x5. The white layer is also from SU and it is the Shimery White. I used my sewing machine and stitched a border. My first card started well was going to end without it and it looked too plain. So after the card was all put together I attempted the stitching. It would have looked great if I could stitch in a straight line with an audience. My daughter and boyfriend were all watching me. I used Ribbon Doilies from the Kioshi collection too (that is the flower doilie border overlapping the purper PP), those are super cute. They are self adhesive and come with 3 different ribbons. The fairy and sentiment are from SU's clear mount set called A little Bit of Magic available May 1 in the Summer Mini. I colored the fairy in with my blender pens and SU ink.

April 23, 2010

I was able to participate in 2 challenges today. One I am so glad I found today because it is perfect, it is my daughter's 13th birthday today and the challenge is a theme. Over at Fussy and Fancy - Challenge 9: Birthday, a sweet treat. How perfect to do a challenge for my daughter's birthday card. Then over at Taylored Expressions she had a sketch challenge.

Here is the sketch:And here is my card:

For the theme challenge it had to have a sweet treat on the card. What better than a cupcake. Oh I would love a cupcake right now! LOL! This card measures 5x5 inch. It has a Kraft card base. The PP is from Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry Collection. The sentiment is from SU Happy Moments set. I cut the top note with my Cricut. I used some Chocolate Chip ribbon from SU to finish off the card.

I hope she likes it, we plan on giving her gifts to her in a little bit. I can't believe she is a teenager! Wow does time fly.

April 22, 2010

Oh my goodness I had a blast with this sketch. Some cards come together so beautiful and just as planned and others I seem to struggle. I haven't decided if it is the paper I have chosen for a particular card or the stamp set but this card, I chose the paper and then the stamp set just fell in to place. In the end it turned out just as I had hoped.

The paper from American Crafts is from The Treehouse Collection. Super bright and fun to play with. I used 2 of the PP from this collection. The green and white swirly paper is called Adventure and the flower PP is called Laughter. Both are available for purchase at my store.

Anyways, here is the sketch:

And here is my card:The 2 stamp sets I decided to use are from Practicing Creativity Designs called You're Dandy and Look Up! I can't say enough about these stamps, they have such possibilities. They work great alone and even better mix and matched together. I used the rays from the You're Dandy set, inked them on (I think) RRiding Hood Red cardstock from SU with Versamark and clear embossed them. The hot air balloon from the Look Up! set was inked with black Stazon on the Adventure PP from American Crafts. I cut it out and popped it on the paper with dimensionals. The sentiment is also from the Look Up! set and inked on Old Olive cardstock from SU with Chocolate Chip. I snipped the grass out of Old Olive cardstock after I used the grass stamp from the You're Dandy set. Oh that was a pain but I liked the way it turned out.

April 21, 2010

Happy Thursday! I made this card yesterday but didn't have a chance to take pictures and upload until this morning. I am so happy this week is coming to the end. I have several birthdays to celebrate. My neice's birthday is today. I am so sad we live in Virginia and won't be able to spend the day with her and my brother. Then my daughter's birthday is on Friday. Not doing much just going out to dinner. Then on Saturday is my boyfriend's birthday. I gave him his present early, a pasta roller/cutter attachments for our Kitchenaid Mixer. I smell homemade lasagna in my future. LOL!

Anywho on to this weeks Mojo Monday challenge. This will be my first crack at a Mojo Monday sketch. I was really excited.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

I was fighting with the camera this morning so the pictures are not the best. For this card I used a Kraft cardstock for the base.

I used a stamp set from Stampin' UP!'s Summer Mini Catalog available May 1 called Watercolor Trio. I used some of my Colorbox Chalk Ink for the sentiment and image. The Happy Birthday sentiment was from Stampin' UP! called Well Scripted. The circle was cut on my Cricut and I used Shimmer White cardstock from Stampin UP!. You can't see it in the picture but it has a subtle yet lovely shimmer to the cardstock.

Supplies:

Stamp: Watercolor Trio from the Summer Mini Catalog available May 1, Well Scripted

April 18, 2010

Happy Sunday! Another challenge for me. :-) This one came together pretty nicely too. When I saw the sketch and the scallops I immediately thought of my new package of ribbon from Cosmo Cricket. I have been trying to find the right project to use it on. The scallop velvety ribbon worked perfect for this card. Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch:

This card measures 4.25x5.5 and is a Kraft card base. I used Versamark ink and my wood grain stamp for a background. I layered a 2.25" DSP from Stampin' UP!. The DSP is called Flock Together. I used a Certainly Celery cardstock layered with the DSP as well as for the sentiment. I inked the sentiment in Chocolate Chip ink from Stampin' UP! All of the ribbon is from Cosmo Cricket's Honey Pie and Cogsmo collection.

April 16, 2010

This card has a Whisper White card base. The stamp sets used to make this card are both from Practicing Creativity Designs. The cloud is from the You're Dandy set and the balloons and sentiment are from the Look UP! set.For the cloud I inked it with Versamark and applied it to Baja Breeze (SU) cardstock. The rainbow striped PP is from American Crafts. I don't sell that PP in my store but I do have other wonderful AC products. I cut some Summer Sun (SU), Pumpkin Pie (SU) and Cameo Coral (SU) cardstock squares, layered it with a slightly smaller square and inked the balloons and sentiment. To give the Whisper White squares some dimension I sponged the edges with a light brown Colorbox Chalk ink (not sure the name). I finished the card with a piece of Satin Red Ribbon from Stampin' UP!.

**To purchase either of those stamp sets or a variety of other paper crafting products, check out my online store**

April 14, 2010

Another challenge for me. So I am torn about this card, I love the colors and the way it turned out but I am super upset you can see the VELLUM tape showing through the VELLUM. LOL, the point of vellum tape is so you can't see it and low and behold you can. I wanted to redo the card but I don't have anymore of the teal blue-ish color and I think the deep color makes the card come together.

So here is my card:

I used Whisper White for the card base. I am not sure what the name of the blue-ish colored cardstock is but it is from Stampin' UP! I used Black satin ribbon from Stampin' UP!. I also used a layer of Basic Grey cardstock. I embossed some vellum (from Michaels) and adhered it to the Basic Grey cardstock. For the stamp I used a new stamp set from Stampin' UP! that will be available May 1. It's called Blissful Bride. It was stamped with Basic Black ink, before it dried I sprinkled heat and stick powder on it and then clear embossing powder to give it a bit of a shine. The stamp was set on Brushed Silver cardstock from Stampin' UP!. A very elegant paper.

Overall I really like the card but I am really upset you can see the adhesive through the paper. Not really sure what I should do about that. I wanted to send this to my friend that is getting married in June but I am really not sure I can.

Again the picture sucks, my iPhone is certainly not ideal for picture taking. You can't really see some of the detail of the card.

For the Love of Dots from Practicing Creativity Designs is a super fun stamp set. There are so many options with all the dots.So the inspiration for this card originally came from some red ribbon from Stampin' UP!. That is why I colored the stamp set with red and finished it with black. The problem is after I got all done the ribbon was too "casual" for the elegence of this card. So I had to make some changes and the only thing I had was the black Specialty DP from SU. This card is a little "darker" than I would usually make but none-the-less it was so fun to mix and match the dots from the stamp set.

I used a Kraft card base, inked one of the dots from the set with Versamark and used my heat tool to dry the ink. I then combined two of the other dot stamps from the set to make the border at the bottom of the card. Now In the close up pic you can see I smudged the ink a bit and that is because I didn't have a clear block big enough for the stamp. I mostly had wood mounted stamps until recently and I have not picked up any clear blocks.

Anywho, I colored in the stamp with one of my red Copics. It took me some time to figure out how I wanted to add a sentiment. I used the Celebrate sentiment from the same stamp set. Seriously this set is so cool. If you would like to purchase this set check out my store, Artfuldelight.com. I think the card looks crooked but I think that is just the way the picture was taken, it's not really crooked. LOL!

This is for The Sweet Stop Sketch challenge. Wahooo! another sketch challenge. Here is another sneak peak at a stamp set from Stampin' UP! available May 1.

When I think of ice cream cones, I think summer.....sunny, bright and fun and that was how I came up with the colors for this card.

EEk, another Whisper White card base.....I don't want to make a habit of that because like I said me and white is like oil and water.....just don't mix. LOL!

I layered on a Pumpkin Pie cardstock that I stamped with a wood grain stamp I got from Michaels. I used Versamark and clear embossing powder. The ribbon treatment I saw on Practicing Creativity blog and I think she case'd it from somewhere else. I had originally tried to cut the slits with my exacto knife but that was one hot mess. So I used my Sure Cuts- A lot program and cut it on my Cricut. It looks so much cleaner and oh so nice. I used some ribbon from the dollar bin at Michaels.

I paper pieced the Ice Cream Cone together using some dimensionals. I finished the card off with some buttons from Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry collection ( I believe, I know it is Basic Grey though).The stamp set and DSP will be available from Stampin' UP! May 1, in their summer mini. The stamp set is called, Sweet Scoops and the DSP is Island Oasis. Super fun and colorful DSP.

Yippee, This is sort of my first official challenge. I am so totally excited. So I went and purchased some Prisma colored pencils yesterday from my local craft store. I pass this store all the time but the name of it is Studio Art (I believe) and for some reason by the name and the things I saw in the window it struck me as more of a painting art store, oil painting, water colors....that sort of thing. Well when I was searching online for somewhere local to get the colored pencils, the Studio Art place popped up so I decided to stop in.Well half of the store is painting supplies but the other half was all stamps and inks and paper crafting accessories. I was so totally excited because I have had a real hard time finding local gals to craft with and at this store they have craft get-togethers. I did find another place online that does as well but it is about an hour or so drive and I am not sure I want to do that.So anywho, I bought some Prisma pencils and went to work on my new stamp from Stampin' UP!. It will be available May 1. The stamp set is called A little bit of Magic. Oh it is so cute and I had a ton of fun making this card and coloring in the fairy stamp.

All of the products are Stampin' UP! I used Whisper White cardstock for the base. That will probably be a pretty rare thing for me, see me and white don't mix well. Something always happens to my white card base so I don't like to use it much. I used coordinating cardstock to go with the DSP and I CANNOT for the life of me remember the name. . I am not sure the proper name for the grey but I used grey and Cameo Coral cardstock. I used some silver brads from my Hodgepodge Hardware kit, also from Stampin' UP!. My Cricut made life easy by cutting two ovals, one slightly bigger for some layering.

The ribbon was from the dollar bin at Michaels, it has wire in it which made it very pleasant to tie in a knot. I am still not very good at making bows and knots. Put a little wire in the ribbon and I am in heaven. LOL!

The button are also from Stampin' UP!

BTW, I broke the camera I had found and had the pleasure of using for about a week. So now I am back to my iPhone for a bit. Sorry if the picture sucks, LOL!

Hope you enjoy this card and it was super fun participating in my very first challenge.

April 13, 2010

Pretty easy card, with a decent amount of layers. The card base is Kraft from Stampin' UP!. The DSP paper is Pawsitively Prints with matching cardstock. I used Whisper White, Old Olive and Pretty in Pink. I have not received my paper piercer in the mail yet, I ordered it last week, so I had to do it by hand. What a challenge, I can't wait for my Mat Pack to come. The stamp set I bought off eBay, not sure who it's from and the self adhesive "brads" are from American Crafts.

April 11, 2010

Super duper fun card to make. This was also for a sketch challenge earlier in the week. I promise I will get better with all this. I will post closer to the challenge day and post which challenge and blog it's from.

The card base is Kraft cardstock. Since I don't have any circle punches, I used my Sure-Cuts Alot program and my Cricut to cut all the circles out. Each "petal" is a circle that I adhered around the larger circle. It made a super cute flower. The stamp set Thanks a Bunch, I think it was from the dollar bin at Michaels. All the cardstock is Stampin' UP! and the DSP is Razzleberry Lemonade. I used Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Rich Razzleberry. I used my Versamark Marker and colored in the "Thanks" part of the sentiment and then used heat and stick powder and glitter to add a little sparkle. I really like the way that turned out. I used a brad from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush Collection and some silver brads from Stampin' UP! I added a little extra to my layer my using my scallop border punch from Stampin' UP!

I really like the way this whole card turned out. It is just full of color and would probably put a smile on whoever received this card.

This is a card I made for my dad's birthday in the beginning of March. Yeah I know I could have posted it then but I have been trying to get "all my ducks in a row" before I plunged into daily blogging and crafting. Again, it will take some time to get regular.

I will give credit to where credit is due, I saw this layout/design on another blog. I was looking for a masculine card design for my dad. At My Chic'n Scratch she made a card for her dad and this was the layout. I did however use different paper. I just loved the look of the card and wanted to make one of my own. BTW, my dad loved the card. :-) Again with the Kraft cardstock for the base and a layer of So Saffron to get the card started. I used PP from Basic Grey's Origins collection (I believe). I also used a layer of Chocolate Chip cardstock. The stamp sets I used were Stampin' UP!, Happy Moments and Well Scripted. I love SU's Well Scripted set, it is so beautiful!

I colored in the presents with my Copics and Blender Pens. I added a little crystal effects to the dots on the package. I also sponged a light brown chalk ink on the edges of the white cardstock. I am not sure the name of it.

I have been crafting up a storm over the last week. Every chance I get I try and make a card. "Me time" is limited with 4 kids, LOL! So this card was for a sketch challenge earlier in the week. Unfortunately I don't know which one, :-O Sorry!If you become a regular follower, you will learn something about me. I am a very visual person, I LOVE sketch challenges. Tony (my boyfriend) says I should sketch out my own cards and projects before I make them but I just can't do that. I design a card as I go a long. I have a general idea but I pick everything out as I go a long, that is why it takes me an hour or two, sometimes, to make a card.I will pick out the base which you will also learn my fav is Kraft and then I will pick each layer of the card as I go a long. I never assemble the card until I am certain it is what I want. Now don't get me wrong there are plenty of time that even after it is done I am not happy and will tweak the card. I will either make a whole new one or swap out what I don't like on the existing card. I am not sure if that will get better the more frequent I get the craft or if that is just how my brain works, either way a card does get completed and most of the time to my liking. More than likely I won't post it if I don't like it. If I am unsure how I feel I may post it and see how you guys like it.Well without further delay, here is my first card:

So for this card I used my fav, Kraft cardstock from Stampin' UP! for the base. All the PP is from Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry collection. The cardstock is both from Stampin' UP!, So Saffron and Whisper White. I used my sewing machine to put a stitch border on the So Saffron cardstock. The stamp set is from Practicing Creativity Designs called For the Love of Dots. It is a new set that was released April 6. This stamp set is super fab, probably one of my favorites from Practicing Creativity Designs.

Oh the creativity that can come from this stamp set. Those dots are simply devine.Anywho, the buttons are also from Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry collection. If you look at the dots around the "Sweet" sentiment, I used crystal effects to give it a little dimension. I have really been using crystal effects on a lot of my cards. I just love how it adds just a little extra something to each piece. Pretty simple card but I do like the way it turned out. I will have to practice a little on the stitching if I am going to use it on future cards. I am certainly a beginner with a sewing machine. LOL!Ok so sorry for the long post, I have several cards to get uploaded and I promise not to ramble on with each one. LOL!

April 6, 2010

I have several cards to upload and share with you. Unfortunately the only camera I currently have available to me is too hi-tech. So I had been using my iPhone. The picture quality sucks, so basically I am going to search the house for another one ( I know we have it somewhere ) and take the pictures and then upload them for you.

April 1, 2010

Next week I will be receiving some items from Sassafrass and new products from American Crafts. But don't wait, check out my store today and see all the great paper crafting products I have for sale. Items from American Crafts, Stampin' UP!, Cosmo Cricket, Zutter and Basic Grey.

Click here to donate to help support my giveaways! I LOVE offering giveaways but sometimes shipping can get pretty pricey. I would love to continue offering these to you (my readers) so any help you may be able to give would be greatly appreciated.